Chandigarh to develop theme park on pattern of Disney Land

Chandigarh, Dec 6 (UNI) With the aim of attracting tourists and boost the economy of the city, the Chandigarh Administration today signed an agreement with the Unitech Limited to develop a theme park on the pattern of Disney Land.

The Unitech will develop, operate, manage and maintain the 73-acre entertainment city, thus offering a complete family entertainment experience to Indian as well as international tourists.

UT Tourism Joint Secretary Vivek Atray signed on behalf of the Chandigarh Administration and Unitech Limited Executive Vice President V K Chadha represented the Unitech.

UT Home Secretary Krishna Mohan, Director IT M S Brar, Chief Engineer V K Bhardwaj, Chief Architech Sunita Monga, Senior Town Planner M L Arora and other senior UT officials were present on the occasion.

The theme park project is envisaged to attract about 10 lakh tourists here annually. The park would also enhance the status of the city as the hub of Northen India.

The investment in the project by the developer is expected to be between Rs 600 to 750 crore and the park would be ready within two-and- a- half years.

The theme park would come up near village Sarangpur. The Administration would continue to own the land and the developer would only be entitled to utilise the land on payment of Rs 5.5 crore annual rent plus 1.1 per cent of the gross annual revenue from the project.

The park would have high technology rides and world class entertainment facilities, food courts and restaurants, retail shopping facility, green spaces, mini India model spread over three to four acres of land, wax amusement on the pattern of Madame Tussad's, glass boats in the lake, cycling tracks and cycling facilities, mini mono rail within the Theme Park, small AC buses for tours within and other entertainment facilities on the pattern of International Theme Parks.

Theme parks like Disney Land, Genting and Sentosa are world famous attractions and bring to their cities a certain position of eminence on the tourism map.

Chandigarh, being the hub of the region, would be able to provide people of neighbouring states with entertainment facilities where families can enjoy wholesome entertainment facilities.

The Chandigarh Theme Park would have state of the art infrastructure and facilities for traffic management and environment control apart from other features. It will also offer visitors ample space for parking their cars.

Speaking on the project, Mr Chadha said, ''Chandigarh has great potential and it has the unique distinction of being India's first planned city. With the addition of the entertainment city, the city will set to achieve new standards showcasing Chandigarh as the destination of choice for the tourism industry.'' He said that the Unitech will develop the Entertainment City in a way that will boost the tourist influx in the city and adjoining areas.

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